CLIP-ings: August 16, 2013

Internet Governance

NSA Math: In a rare publically released report, the NSA stated that its analysts only review approximately .00004% of worldwide daily Internet traffic; if represented visually, it would be roughly the size of a dime on a basketball court.

Virtual Currencies: The Senate Homeland Security Committee sent letters detailing the start of a congressional investigation into Bitcoin, other virtual currencies and the surrounding regulatory regimes.

Privacy

Surveillance Transparency: President Obama held a press conference detailing new transparency measures for various government surveillance programs, including adding a privacy advocate to the FISA court.

Data Collection Trashed: City of London officials issued a statement Monday halting the collection of pedestrian foot traffic data through 12 Internet-connected garbage cans initially installed by a start-up for the 2012 Olympics.

Information Security & Cyberthreats

Aviation Cyber Security: The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics released a report outlining the existing and growing cyber threats to the aviation industry and proposing a framework for international cooperation on aviation cyber security.

Up in the Crib: A hacker took advantage of a known firmware vulnerability in order to hack into the camera and audio functions of a baby monitor and spy on a two-year old girl in Texas; the girl's father discovered the intrusion when he heard a stranger's voice accosting his daughter and rushed to unplug the device.

Intellectual Property

Praising Piracy: The CEO of HBO parent company, Time Warner, says the declaration of Game of Thrones as the most pirated television show in the world is better than receiving an Emmy Award because he believes piracy eventually leads to more subscribers for HBO and more revenue down the road.

Eye Tracking: Google received a new patent for technology that would allow Google Glass to follow exactly where your eyes are looking, as well as gauge emotional responses by measuring pupil dilation.

Free Expression & Censorship

Judicial Name Change: Despite parents appearing in court due to disagreement over the child's last name, a Tennessee child support magistrate altered the child's first name from Messiah to Martin due to "Messiah" being "a title that has only been earned by one person."

Practice Note

Wikipedia for Lawyers: Two lawyers are setting out to turn the legal research world on its head by applying the crowdsourcing tenets of Wikipedia to legal research; the website, called Casetext, allows user-contributed annotations, and content is currently limited to U.S. Supreme Court decisions, federal appellate court decisions and some district court decisions.

On the Lighter Side

Future Vending: In a marketing campaign, Amstel placed a beer vending machine in a busy part of the city of Sofia, Bulgaria; the caveat was that anyone who wanted a beer had to demonstrate patience.